Kentucky was the first big name to get eliminated 80-76 in the NCAA basketball tourney by little Oakland University from Rochester MI!!!

The first 2023-24 NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings have been released. NET is the primary formula used by the committee to determine tournament participation and seeding. All games are divided into quadrants, and the number of wins and losses in each quadrant is important, with Quad 1 wins being particularly helpful and Quad 3 and 4 losses being particularly harmful. I'll update this every week with NU's status.

NU has debuted at #48 in the NET ratings. That's bubble territory, but our current resume would definitely have us in the tournament, just probably on a lower seed than last year.

QUAD 1 (1-1)
H #5 Purdue - W
N #40 Mississippi State - L

QUAD 2 (1-0)
H #42 Dayton - W

QUAD 3 (2-0)
H #77 Northern Illinois - W
N #192 Rhode Island - W

QUAD 4 (2-0)
H #240 Binghamton - W
H #265 Western Michigan - W

Obviously the Purdue win is going to be a huge part of our resume going forward, and we have no bad losses in these first 7 games. This week features a Quad 4 home game against a dreadful Detroit Mercy team.

Unintentional rhyme by me there

We’ve got about 50 people in the stands. Energy from the team seems really good. Barnheizer making all his threes from what I can tell and Nicholson has gone full “mob boss” with the tracksuit and undershirt 😂. Let’s go ‘Cats!

Also, if you still haven’t bought tickets… if you can afford it I highly recommend going first level. The second level looks STEEP.

Dave Eanet is one of the best in the business…a consummate professional who bleeds Purple. If you can’t make it to Evanston, there’s nothing better than listening to the “Voice of the Wildcats” on the radio. We are so fortunate to have him as part of the Northwestern Family.

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@lou v and I log our predictions for 9th-seeded Northwestern's NCAA Tournament game versus 8th-seeded Florida Atlantic tomorrow.

I’m very tempted to lock in March 21st and 22nd as vacation days. Should I do it?

The only spots that I won’t be able to make work are Spokane, Utah, and Omaha.

If we land in Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Charlotte, or Pittsburgh, I’m going to plan to attend live.

Memphis is a maybe.

And if we somehow miss the dance… I’ll be able to watch all the games from my comfy schmumfy couch.

Should I book the days off from work and life this early?

Powerful words from Chase....
NOW LET'S GO CATS!!!!

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Just saying….

Without TB and MN, anything past round two is house money. We have an elite guard and are one of the best three point shooting teams in the country. Those are still facts and in the tourney they matter.

Will be fun no matter what happens. I am getting accustomed to seeing purple in late March!

Anecdotally, I know a lot of people going to the game on Friday, and we have a pretty big NY/northeast fan base overall. I think we will have a very solid turnout! If I had to guess, it’ll be smaller than the epic turnout of Salt Lake, but could be on par with Sacramento (which was strong), or even better.

If we can get past FAU, we will need every voice we can muster in the next game…but first thing’s first.

With temporary stands and stuff.

Northwestern offered CB Cedric Patmon from Del Valle (Tex.) on Friday. It's his eighth Power Four offer. He's 6-3, 195, which is awfully big for a corner. He tagged both LaMarcus Hicks and Harlon Barnett in his tweet, so we'll see.

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@lou v and I log our predictions for 9th-seeded Northwestern's NCAA Tournament game versus 8th-seeded Florida Atlantic tomorrow.

4 out of 5 "experts" in an article in The Athletic pick NU to win. Probably the kiss of death.

The entire staff has been fired.

Sign of the times, I guess. But that’s a brand that should’ve been too strong to die.

Getting *my* subscription with *my* name on it when I moved to NU felt incredibly adult. Read it cover to cover just about every week.

I wonder how long SI Vault will remain.

Verbal commits changed its layout this year and the latest entries looks harder to read, at least now that there's someone new every 5 minutes.

583 players as of 10:25 am on 03/20


Rowan Brumbaugh is in the portal. Strong Bamisile, Lathon vibes there.

Looks like the burbs are out... NBC5

"Chicago Bears to invest over $2 billion to build new stadium near Soldier Field, reversing plans to move from city center" CNN-Link

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I can't believe that Chris Collins' picked Babyface as his favorite musical artist. I love it.

Great piece by Jaylen Pate on his journey at NU.......

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Head coach Chris Collins, Boo Buie and Brooks Barnhizer addressed the media before their final practice ahead of traveling to Brooklyn for the NCAA Tournament. Here are our takeaways from what they had to say.

Head coach Chris Collins, Boo Buie and Brooks Barnhizer addressed the media before their final practice ahead of traveling to Brooklyn for the NCAA Tournament. Here are our takeaways from what they had to say.

I’m not one to shed a tear for the Crimson Tide, but wow, the timing of Saban’s announcement is just decimating their current roster. The inability for others to transfer in while their players transfer out is tough. I expect them to be VERY active in the Spring portal.

You can add all-world OT Kadyn Proctor to the list below.

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